Product Description
“The most lacerating tale of drug addiction since William S. Burroughs’ Junky.” —The Boston Globe
“Again and again, the book delivers recollections that leave the reader winded and unsteady. James Frey’s staggering recovery memoir could well be seen as the final word on the topic.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“A brutal, beautifully written memoir.”—The Denver Post
“Gripping . . . A great story . . . You can’t help but cheer his victory.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
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Amazon.com
News from Doubleday & Anchor Books
The controversy over James Frey's A Million Little Pieces has caused serious concern at Doubleday and Anchor Books. Recent interpretations of our previous statement notwithstanding, it is not the policy or stance of this company that it doesn’t matter whether a book sold as nonfiction is true. A nonfiction book should adhere to the facts as the author knows them. It is, however, Doubleday and Anchor's policy to stand with our authors when accusations are initially leveled against their work, and we continue to believe this is right and proper. A publisher's relationship with an author is based to an extent on trust. Mr. Frey's repeated representations of the book's accuracy, throughout publication and promotion, assured us that everything in it was true to his recollections. When the Smoking Gun report appeared, our first response, given that we were still learning the facts of the matter, was to support our author. Since then, we have questioned him about the allegations and have sadly come to the realization that a number of facts have been altered and incidents embellished. We bear a responsibility for what we publish, and apologize to the reading public for any unintentional confusion surrounding the publication of A Million Little Pieces. We are immediately taking the following actions: We are issuing a publisher's note to be included in all future printings of the book.* James Frey has written an author's note that will appear in all future printings of the book.* Read the author's note. The jacket for all future editions will carry the line "With new notes from the publisher and from the author."
*Customers should find the Author's Note and Publisher's Note in copies purchased from Amazon.com after April 15, 2006.
Note: The following editorial reviews were written before the recent revelations by James Frey and the publisher.
Amazon.com
The electrifying opening of James Frey's debut memoir, A Million Little Pieces, smash-cuts to the then 23-year-old author on a Chicago-bound plane "covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood." Wanted by authorities in three states, without ID or any money, his face mangled and missing four front teeth, Frey is on a steep descent from a dark marathon of drug abuse. His stunned family checks him into a famed Minnesota drug treatment center where a doctor promises "he will be dead within a few days" if he starts to use again, and where Frey spends two agonizing months of detox confronting "The Fury" head on: I want a drink. I want fifty drinks. I want a bottle of the purest, strongest, most destructive, most poisonous alcohol on Earth. I want fifty bottles of it. I want crack, dirty and yellow and filled with formaldehyde. I want a pile of powder meth, five hundred hits of acid, a garbage bag filled with mushrooms, a tube of glue bigger than a truck, a pool of gas large enough to drown in. I want something anything whatever however as much as I can. One of the more harrowing sections is when Frey submits to major dental surgery without the benefit of anesthesia or painkillers (he fights the mind-blowing waves of "bayonet" pain by digging his fingers into two old tennis balls until his nails crack). His fellow patients include a damaged crack addict with whom Frey wades into an ill-fated relationship, a federal judge, a former championship boxer, and a mobster (who, upon his release, throws a hilarious surf-and-turf bacchanal, complete with pay-per-view boxing). In the book's epilogue, when Frey ticks off a terse update on everyone, you can almost hear the Jim Carroll Band's brutal survivor's lament "People Who Died" kicking in on the soundtrack of the inevitable film adaptation. The rage-fueled memoir is kept in check by Frey's cool, minimalist style. Like his steady mantra, "I am an Alcoholic and I am a drug Addict and I am a Criminal," Frey's use of repetition takes on a crisp, lyrical quality which lends itself to the surreal experience. The book could have benefited from being a bit leaner. Nearly 400 pages is a long time to spend under Frey's influence, and the stylistic acrobatics (no quotation marks, random capitalization, left-aligned text, wild paragraph breaks) may seem too self-conscious for some readers, but beyond the literary fireworks lurks a fierce debut. --Brad Thomas Parsons
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 Not as good as Burroughs, but a good addiction story! ( jefferybott2 )
I set a high bar for stories like these. After reading Dry by Burroughs, it is hard to find a story/memoir that measures up. I enjoyed Frey's adventure/struggle in rehab, but it left me longing for more of what got him there.
The story takes you through a nice love story and along the way you find yourself attached and rooting for Frey's success, which seems to be up against all odds.
If you happen to be an addict as well, this story will drag you along some very familiar streets. Those who have felt these same feelings will be able to see where it all can end.
In the end I found myself looking forward to the quotes and secular wisdom that Frey found from his little book of Tao and had me cheering for the simplicity and wisdom he was able to draw from it.
Frey may be a one in a million case, or maybe he is just a good writer; either case he has done well and you will be a slightly better person for reading this book (you will not want to fall this deep into addiction).
Finally, the last page will rip your heart out as you see the truth behind the 15% statistic that is quoted too often throughout the book and why Frey truly is one in a million.
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 I broke down because I had to know what all the hype was about! ( starlight29341 )
After years of protesting this book and DETESTING what James Frey did in creating and promoting this book...I broke down. Too many friends said it was a riveting read, and I figured, I'm going into this KNOWING it's fiction, and I read it as such. That's not to say that I'm still not a big fan of Frey, but after reading this book, I can say I admire his courage and strength to preservere through life.
That being said...this is a good book. A lot of things caught me by surprise, one was his writing style. It's unique, although at times annoying. Frey has a tendancy to write run-on sentences or to just skip punctuation. Although I did like how the book was spaced, at times there was one paragraph on a page, to maybe signify an important matter or a passage of time. I was also surprised in reading how events unfolded. I won't give anything away, but suffice it to say that there was something that I kept "waiting" for and it didn't happen. Surprises in books are good. Lastly, I was happy to find that I found the periferal characters very engaging and intriguing. When I got to the end I was glad a note was added that let us know where each person is at this point in time.
I am not an alcoholic so I cannot speak as to how this might help one. I can imagine it would provide inspiration or at the very least, a feeling of not being alone in the fear and struggle.
I suppose I would recommend this book to someone else. Honestly, I didn't WANT to enjoy this book. I didn't want to LIKE Frey's character. But, it was inevitable. I figured after years of being stubborn I didn't want to be left as the only one who hadn't read this book. Plus, I borrowed it from a friend, so I didn't spend my own money on it, or contribute to his earnings. That helps, right?
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 A million little lies
I cannot believe that so many people that have reviewed his book and he still has over 4 stars! What is going on? How do lies sell like hotcakes? It is so obviously far from the truth it is sickening. There is nothing like the pains of detox except the lies of someone pretending to "play" detox and banking off it. How warped can you be? Standing in front of people like the golden child as if you deserve some respect from the public-HA! i want my money back Frey! You owe it back to all of us that were cheated!!!
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 Moving read
I enjoyed this book a lot. I felt very connected and found myself going through all of the same feelings. I don't care if the story isn't true because it is a book and I believe it is technically classified as fiction so no one is really lying to you if it was made up. It is a good book about addiction and what it can do to lives, friends, and families. I would also have to say that I would find one disturbing thing about this book would be that it would seem to encourage addiction recovery as something that you can do alone which in most cases (if not all) is not possible.
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More than a liar, but a hypocrite. ( woodchipreturns )
I read this book fully knowing of the controversy. I never planned on purchasing it, but a local book store was closing and I saw it half off. I would never pay full price for a Memoir of Lies. Nonetheless, I read the book and enjoyed large portions of it. His writing is fairly mundane and a bit confusing since he feels no obligation to punctuate and use quotations.
Confusion aside, the book is powerful. The Fury, the Hold ON, Say NO, all this resonates as true. Addiction is a choice, not a disease is great. Telling the truth and seeing through lying rock stars who lie about their addiction IS bull...... WAIT.... whaT?????
James Frey went on and on about wanting to massacre a famous rock muscian with golden album hits because he lied about his addiction and his backstory. He LIED...... To Frey this is the WORST thing you can do. So he didnt just embelish as he likes to say. He didn't exaggerate as you can quote him saying. He didn't even simply lie. He went against every principle he talked about.
James Frey is a hypocrite. Anyone who reads this book needs to realize that point more than anything.
Beyond being a liar, Frey is a hypocrite. This is what turns this great story into a million little bastardized words typed out on paper. None of it is REAL. Real as in what he really is trying to say. The entire theme of HOLDING ON and ADDICTION is ruined because of his own hypocrisy.
I hate Frey for this.. I hate him for making me hate this great story.
I do not believe Lily, Miles, Leonard, or most of the charcters in this story existed.
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